Questions

Recommended Reading and Dictionaries.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleagues of the Department of English Lexicology who read the draft version of the manual and encouraged me to present the materials in the form of a book. I am especially indebted to Professor Irina Tokareva.

I am thankful to the reviewers of the manuscript, Professor Lyudmila Leshchova and Professor Yacov Vovshin, for their valuable suggestions. I also thank visiting lecturers of MSLU Brian Blackwell, Caroline Linse, and Brendan Weston for verbal comments.

I am grateful to Olga Petrova and Dmitry Sologubov whose assistance in typing the manuscript greatly facilitated the publication.

T. Susha

Introduction

The following topics are considered in the course of English Lexicology:

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics.

2. Lexical units. The notion of lexeme.

3. General characteristics of the English lexicon.

4. Etymological characteristics of the English lexicon.

5. Word meaning. Approaches to meaning.

6. Types of meaning.

7. Word meaning and motivation.

8. Semantic change in English.

9. Polysemy.

10. Homonymy.

1. Types of semantic relations in the lexicon.

2. Semantic and non-semantic classifications of English words.

3. The structure of English words. Principles of morphemic analysis. Morphemic types of words in English.

4. Principles and basic notions of derivational analysis. Derivational types of words in English.

5. Affixation.

6. Conversion.

7. Compounding.

8. Abbreviation. Other ways of word creation.

9. Word-groups. Colligation and collocation.

10. Phraseological units.

11. The stylistic and social stratification of the English lexicon.

12. Regional varieties of the English language: Lexical differences.

13. Ways of Enriching and Expanding the English lexicon.

14. British and American lexicography.

15. Methods and procedures of lexicological research.

For more details see: Теория английского языка. Программа по специальности Г.02.05. – Современные иностранные языки; П.02.07. – Английский язык. Мн., 2000.

At present the course in English Lexicology comprises five 2-hour lectures and ten 2-hour seminars. They are arranged as shown in Table 1 (Lectures and Seminars). If the lecturer adopts a different plan of study, he may change the amount of hours or the order of the topics to suit his plan of lectures and seminars. The tasks, exercises, and questions suggested in the manual may be extended and modified by the teacher.

The topics “The Structure of English words”, “English word-formation”, “Affixation”, “Conversion”, “Compounding”, “Abbreviation ”, and “Other ways of word creation” will be presented in the form of a workbook under the title English Word-Formation.

The topics which are not reflected in Table 1 are meant for independent study.

In preparing this manual the author has tried to take into account the latest achievements and publications in linguistic science in the field of lexicology.

For a detailed discussion of the topics/problems given above manuals of lexicology are recommended (see Recommended Reading, p. 55). In addition every seminar outline is supplied with linguistic literature for further reading, in which account is taken of what is available in the library of the University.

Every branch of learning is characterized by its key terms. In seeking guidance about the basic lexicological concepts and terms students are referred to Encyclopedias of Language and Dictionaries of Linguistic Terms (see p. 56).

Table 1